This 520 shield, courtesy J. P. Nasiatka, should match the green one immediately below.


Just west of Albany, GA, US 82 and GA 520 exit themselves to become the Albany Bypass; straight ahead is the old alignment, but the business route doesn't follow that (as you'll see in the next photo). This photo was taken by J. P. and submitted by Adam Prince.


Eastbound on the Albany Bypass, US 82/GA 520 EB, approaching where US 19 SB will join them, courtesy John Krakoff and submitted by Adam Prince. They come with two things to note: first, I said Eastbound, meaning that BUS 82 and 520 (nice shield lettering there, GA-style) should also be EAST, not SOUTH - this may have to do with Slappey Blvd. being a N-S road. Second, GA uses flush exit tabs, meaning they extend the full width of and are part of the sign, so this separate tab is quite rare (indicating the exit numbering was added later than these signs were manufactured). Thanks to J.T. Legg for information on this sign, and a big *slappey* to GDOT.


Now westbound/northbound on 82/520/19, where you can contrast old versus new, again from John and submitted by Adam. All signs use FHWA font, but the new style is a wide-spaced C (i.e. narrow font), while the old style is D or even E (think shoe sizes). Notice that the GA 520 shield is numbered in green, indicative of its being Corridor Z. Also notice that there are no directions posted for the three through routes, so if you weren't paying attention as to which side of the freeway you entered, this won't help. Finally, notice that GA used to be able to stretch its state route shield without it looking terribly misshapen. It's interesting that even for the new sign, the exit tab is separate instead of full-width; I don't know if this is GDOT playing nice with the FHWA or just trying to match the other signs on the route, or if full-width exit tabs are reserved for Interstate highways.


Inside Albany, the junction of two business routes at what used to be the central junction of southern Georgia, courtesy J.P. Nasiatka. Business US 82 is Dawson Road, and Business US 19 is the great ol' Slappey Blvd. Business 82 now jogs over to Oglethorpe Blvd., but US 82 originally went straight to Broad Ave., coming back to the current alignment in Five Points.


All four routes head northwest out of Waycross, but only GA 520 gets to call itself Corridor Z and the South Georgia Parkway. US 82 enjoys the lion's share of multiplexed time with those highways. US 1/23 used to go straight through town instead of coming out this way until a connector was built on the west side.


GA's overhead signs can yield cool treasures. Courtesy J. P. Nasiatka, this is the southeast end of a four-way multiplex, with three US routes and GA 520, and that's BUSINESS 1 going off to the left (though I imagine the only reason BUSINESS is inside the shield is because of space constraints on the LGS). The little writing you might see in the 520 shield is CORR Z, or Corridor Z. Georgia's GRIP corridors (Governor's Road Improvement Program) are a series of rural highways slated to be improved to four lanes with bypasses, and most of the named corridors in Georgia belong to that system. Corridor Z, however, is special in that it's an APD, or Appalachian Regional Development, Corridor(yes, that's ARD, I didn't come up with this). GA 520 ends up at Jekyll Island on the east coast, with Corridor Z not making it quite that far. Thanks to J. T. Legg for additional information on this highway.


US 82 has ended at many different places in Georgia, and currently has decided to end at I-95 instead of someplace sane like where it meets US 17. (In other words, 82 ends while concurrent with 17.) GA 520 looks at US 17 as a liberator, since it finally breaks free to Jekyll Island only after US 17 kills off US 82. That also means liberation from ugly US shields and errors like "CONN" instead of "CORR Z."

Onto GA 520 alone
Onto US 19 alone

Into Alabama on US 82
To I-75
Onto US 23 and US 1/23
Onto US 1 alone
Onto Business US 1, Waycross
Onto US 17
Back to Georgia Roads
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